


Successor of Death

by MagnaVictoria (Meaninglessness)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, M/M, Master of Death Harry Potter, Powerful Harry, Powerful Uzumaki Naruto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-14 23:38:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9210371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meaninglessness/pseuds/MagnaVictoria
Summary: Honestly, he was feeling a little guilty. He had sworn that if he could, he would make sure that no child lived like he did. However, after he became Death, the only thing he did was brood. Now, he wishes to recitify his mistakes by taking care of the innocent, adorable blonde child that reminds him so much of himself





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The most popular work I have on FFN I believe...

Katelyn Dalton, aka Fortuna, was not a happy soul. She was not a happy soul at all. Currently, she was a brooding and annoyed soul. Glaring at the monster known as paperwork on her desk, she sighed, her forehead connecting with her desk with a thump. This would have been a comical scene for anyone that had walked inside to see.

Why, you ask?

Simply for the reason that Katelyn Dalton was a sixteen year old girl who also went by the identity of Fate. Her hair was silver and glowed slightly, an ethereal feel to it, reaching mid back. Her face was aristocratic with high cheek bones and a petite nose. She had a timeless feel to her and was blessed with a figure many would kill for. Her eyes were heterochromic, one a glowing gold, the other a bright blue. All in all, she was a very attractive, unearthly looking woman due to being Fate. Thus the reason her repeated attempts at giving herself a concussion being very comical for an outsider.

As was already established, Katelyn was not a happy person. Really, if you had been killed in a car accident due to Fate getting an idiot drunk in order to run you over at the age of sixteen, you wouldn't be happy either. Especially if you we're only just getting excited about being a god until you realized you had to do paperwork and your predecessor only chose another Fate to dump all his responsibilities on you and happily pass on into the afterlife.

Damn the previous gods for giving everyone paperwork, damn humans for inventing paperwork, damn immortals for adopting paperwork as punishment for not following rules, damn immortals for deciding to be more like humans. And, last but not least, damn paperwork for making life horrible and boring.

No, Katelyn was not happy at all. And she chose this wonderful day to reflect upon this and curse her predecessor to a horrible afterlife, not caring of if it would work or not.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to say something that would have caused sailors to faint if they hear the door to her office slammed open, revealing her colleague, Death. She noted absently that he seemed to be angry about something as she turned her head so that she could see him while her face was still against the wood.

Death raised an eyebrow at her position and she gestured towards the small mountain of paperwork on her desk. Death, the jerk, actually smirked at her predicament and forgot his anger for amusement, making her scowl in response.

Damn Death for not having paperwork monsters to torment him. She mentally smirked, planning on playing hooky by dumping her paperwork at his office.

Death then cleared his throat, running a hand through his shoulder length, messy black hair as he became serious again. Fate was intrigued. Death rarely came into the realm of immortals, preferring to watch over the mortal realm. She lifted her face from her desk and looked into glowing green eyes as the other opened his mouth to speak.

"I want the records on the future and past of someone as well as all and any prophecies made about that someone."

Fate raised an eyebrow. Who had caught his attention? "Why?" She asked back, "For whom?"

Death sighed, but ignored her questions. "I also need you to help me get a way to be able to stay in the mortal realm," he added.

Fortuna blinked before smirking, fangirlism from her past self resurfacing. "Found someone who interested you, Potter? Is it a guy or a girl? Are they cute? How old are they? I hope it's a guy!" She squealed. "This is going to be great!"

Death, previously known as Harry James Potter, held back a shudder when he realized that his colleague had fangirl tendencies in her. With his ascension to the Master of Death status, which was really just Death's successor, he had become as ethereal as all other immortals. Beautiful, for the lack of a better word, with an otherworldly grace and aura. He was taller than before, much to his delight, and had an androgynous look. He then gave another sigh. "No, I have not fallen in love with some random mortal. I need the files on one Uzumaki Naruto. Tell me everything you can about him."

Fortuna was skeptical about his denial and reasons, but shrugged, agreeing to help anyways. As she rose though, she asked, "Why?"

"I just want to know..." Was the distracted reply she got, the raven haired man losing himself in memories. "I think I have found the perfect successor."

The corner of Fate's mouth twitched as she moved into the adjoining room. "Well," she drawled, "Here's my advice, don't plan his death on sight."

* * *

"Demon!"

"Monster!"

"Freak!"

It was the tenth of October, the day that Konoha would celebrate the Kyuubi festival. It was also the birthday of a certain young blonde. The night air was chilling and lights lit up the festive streets of Konohagakure as people drunk themselves into oblivion, celebrating the victory against the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Yet, not everyone was celebrating. Ironically, the one in the least festive mood was the birthday boy himself. Although, the reason why was obvious.

Painfully so.

Said birthday boy was none other than Uzumaki Naruto. The young, newly turned five year old was currently trying to get away from the angry mob who, as always on his birthday, was trying to beat him to death. He was running as fast as his short legs could carry him, terrified at the thought of being caught. However, he was only five and could not outrun grown adults, especially when there were shinobi after him, too. Just as this thought emerged, a young shinobi dropped down in front of him, advancing with a kunai in hand.

"Let's kill the demon!"

Naruto turned down an alleyway, avoiding the shinobi, heart pounding in fear. Another dropped in front of him and he came to halt, stumbling back. The ninja's face was gleeful at having caught the young boy. His hand raised as he prepared to deliver the first strike, making Naruto cringe back in fear, falling down and curling in on himself to try and protect himself from the pain.

The words of the villagers came into his mind. Was he really a demon deserving of death? Maybe he was. Maybe he deserved this, too...

There was a moment of silence and Naruto opened his eyes when no pain came. He caught the sight of a mangled body in front of him, the same ninja that tried to attack him, before a hand obscured his vision. He sucked in a startled breath, whimpering in fear, but a voice shushed him. He felt a warm body behind his back, a hand rubbing in soothing motions.

"Calm down little one... No one will hurt you now... It's fine... You're going to be okay..." The voice was musical and gentle and Naruto relaxed slightly, feeling tired. "Get some rest, little one, that must have been quite a scare..." Then, the young boy fell into the arms of sleep.

* * *

Death was angry. He wanted to be angry at Fate, but he knew it wasn't really her fault. When he saw the young one, it brought back memories of the past. But this young child had it worse. Not only was he the target of some prophecy that forced him to save the world and bring peace, he was also a human sacrifice who kept the village from danger by housing one of the, if not the most powerful demon of his world. Then, he was treated worse than crap by the very ones he was sacrificed for.

Death sneered in disgust as he looked upon the files Fate had given him.

If he hadn't interfered, the young boy would've become like him, a selfless, self sacrificing weapon for am place that shouldn't have earned the right to demand anything from him. Well, at least The Sandaime wasn't a manipulative old coot. These villagers were the real demons if you we're to ask him. How the Yondaime could've sacrificed his own child for people like this was beyond him. How Naruto could be so pure and nice was beyond him, too. If they weren't demons, they were, at least, stupid. Who would antagonize someone they believed had the power to destroy the village anyways?

Well, no longer would this go on, because he was going to give this young boy a chance to live. He was going to give him a chance to live the way he wanted to.

Gently, he picked up the small body within his arms and weaved a strand of his being into the young one's soul, tying him to a mortal being and therefore the mortal plane. He would take care of the boy. He hadn't done anything like this before, even when he saw the similarities between the other children and himself. He was going to repent by taking care of this child. For so long, he had just been a bystander, despite not wanting another child to suffer like him. He had hoped that the world would become a better place. It seemed, however, that humans would never change.

Naruto was his salvation and his peace.

Cradling his precious bundle carefully, Death walked, floating, up into the sky to find a secluded place to raise his child, his heir. Of course, he didn't forget to disillusion them with his magic.

As he walked through the air, he quickly searched for a suitable place to nurse his heir back to health. It wasn't long before he found the perfect place. Turning on the spot, he apparated with a barely audible crack. It wouldn't do for ninja to come investigate.

When the two reappeared, they were in the middle of a forest. A giant snake that was nearby froze at the sound of apparation before fleeing as soon as its eyes fell on the small figure that had suddenly appeared. Harry looked around and grinned in satisfaction. He had heard that this place was called the Forest of Death. It was, apparently used a one of the training grounds in Konoha and perfect for him. It was named after him, after all. Even though it wasn't very private, being a part of Konoha and all, he knew that people rarely came here and that his presence would give them a reason to avoid this place. He was Death after all...

A cackle came out of his mouth followed by an evil smirk before he blinked out of it and sighed. Being more or less immortal really does take a toll on your sanity.

* * *

Kurama, AKA the demon fox, the Kyuubi no Yoko or Kitsune (either works for him), could tell, despite the fact that he was buried so deeply in the brat's mind that he was practically completely separated from it, that something had happened. Or maybe someone. All this time, he had felt sleepy and heavy while being trapped in here, which, he knew, meant that he just wasn't close enough to the surface of his container's mind to make a difference. And, though that weariness was wearing off, the most he could do was access his host's memories. However, right now, he felt energized.

It was the pain and desperation from his host that had made him stir, but that was followed by an aura of pulsing energy that had waked him up fully. His eyes narrowed. What could've happened? Here, behind these bars, he could see the boy's mindscape. It was odd, to say the least. There were winding pipes overhead and water on the ground. It looked weird, but Kyuubi had seen weirder.

A gasp brought him out of the careful scrutiny he was giving his surroundings and made him look down. In the doorway of his... Room... There was a young boy with blinding yellow blonde hair and clear blue eyes. Ah... His host.

"Wh-what are you?" were the first words out of the brat's mouth. Kyuubi shifted into a more comfortable position and grinned maliciously at the child. To his credit, the child didn't even flinch; he merely narrowed his eyes and crept closer.

"Ah... Brat. You've finally come to visit?" The fox demon asked, his grin widening.

"Visit?"

"I've been getting lonely..." Kyuubi crooked a finger, beckoning for the child to get closer. And, out of childish curiosity, he did. "I need someone... To join me!" With that, he lashed out at the child, claws gleaming, and the child's eyes widened, arms raised in an attempt at self defense. _I've got the little brat now..._ the Kyuubi thought, grinning.

"Stop!" The voice startled both fox and child and they realized that another had joined them. The man had merely put up a hand and Kyuubi suddenly froze, unable to move.

Kyuubi snarled, face contorting in anger. Who was this person and how dare he stop him, the Kyuubi, from playing with his prey!? "Who are you!?" He asked, growling menacingly as he retracted his hand.

The man, though admittedly enchanting, actually dared to ignore Kyuubi and turn his back, facing the child instead, who was looking at the man with wide-eyed wonder.

"Are you alright?" The man asked, making the brat blink out of his stupor, ignoring the growling fox behind him all the while.

Then the brat gave a wide grin. "Yes, thank you, pretty nee-chan!" He chirped, seemingly forgetting about the giant, deadly, and very much pissed fox demon. Said fox demon couldn't help but give a snort at the brat's response. Couldn't the brat tell that it was a male who had saved him?

The man chuckled. "I'm a guy."

"Eh!?" Came the ever so eloquent and incredulous response, "But-but you're more prettier than the girls I've seen, nee-chan! You can't be a boy! It's not possible!"

"Well, I am an exception. I am simply a guy that is very pretty," the man said patiently. Kyuubi, however, did not possess the same patience the man did and was getting very, very impatient.

"Don't ignore me, human!" He snarled, claws lashing out to strike at the man that seemed to be mocking him...

Only to be shocked by a burst of high voltage electricity when he got near.

Kyuubi howled with pain, reeling back, tails thrashing around. "You..." He growled, "I'LL KILL YOU!" He gave a threatening roar that made the brat edge back, arms raised as it whipped up a strong wind. The man was unmoved. Kyuubi glared at the man, staring him down, but the man just looked back at him with an indifferent expression on his face.

The expression made Kyuubi's blood boil. He snarled and growled when, suddenly, an aura flared around the man, an aura that he recognized. He paled beneath his red fur and flinched back, trying to get away from the oppressing aura to no avail. Oh crap. Why was this... Person here of all places!?

As if answering Kurama's unspoken question, Death spoke.

"Kyuubi no Yoko, Kurama, I'm here to make a deal with you..."

* * *

Naruto was waking up. He knew he was waking up, yet he somewhat didn't want to. He knew, when he woke up, he would wake up to white sheets, a white ceiling, white everything. He always woke up in the hospital after a run in with the villagers, but this year, the villagers hadn't been very harsh, so it didn't really make sense that he'd be in a hospital... Oh how he hated the hospital.

He groaned, wondering if the Hokage was going to be there when he woke up or not, before suddenly realizing that he wasn't on a lumpy hospital bed, but a soft, silky one. He snuggled further into the covers, loving the way they felt around him. So soft... He had never felt a bed like this.

He opened his eyes reluctantly and braced himself for the pain that was coming when light would make contact with his eyes. To his surprise and immense confusion, however, the room was rather dark and large, probably around the size of his apartment, but cosy.

He could hear the crackling of a fire and see the light coming in from through the ceiling, which looked like black stone. He sat up and realized that he was on a large, four-poster bed with dark crimson silk sheets, emerald-green curtains and what looked to be trees winding up the posts. Now that he looked, there were a lot of plants on his side of the room, he realized, and they reached all the way up to the ceiling. There a fireplace made of grey stone on the other side, built into the stone wall. The walls were, unlike the ceiling, a light, beige color and the floor, he realized after close inspection, was made up of... Grass? And flowers... A couple of pictures of people and odd creatures hung on the walls. There were also a vast amount of pillows in dark colors on his bed as well and he immediately snatched one up, hugging it to his chest as he wondered where he might be.

Naruto then suddenly remembered the dream he had. He frowned. It was a very weird dream. He dreamt that someone had saved him, then he had met a giant red... Fox? Cat?... Something in a place that looked like the sewers. Then, a man, a really pretty man that he accidentally called nee-chan - he blushed when he remembered his mistake - had saved him from the fox and began talking to the giant creature about something... Then, he had woken up.

He lifted the sheet and, taking off the silk pajamas he had just realized he was wearing, looked himself over. He was healed. Any bruises, cuts, and whatnot he previously had on his body were gone. He blinked and relaxed, feeling refreshed and safe for the first time in weeks. Whoever had him had taken care of him. Maybe... Just maybe he could be safe here?

There was a creek and Naruto's head snapped around to look at the door he had previously thought was a painting. The man from his dreams, or maybe it was really real, walked inside and Naruto watched him, wide-eyed as he walked over, smiling kindly.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake, child," the man said, moving closer, "How are you feeling?"

"Great!" Naruto managed, beaming, "Thank you for asking, pretty nee - I mean, nii-san. Where am I though? And who are you?"

Death smiled indulgently before answering the question with a question of his own. "Why don't you tell me your name first?"

"My name's Naruto! Uzumaki Naruto!" The young boy grinned widely when introducing himself, giddy at finding someone else that seemed to be sympathetic towards, or even like him. The older man's expression was serene and he wasn't glaring. His eyes were warm and amused and he was smiling – smiling! – at him, even though he accidentally called him nee-chan. Naruto blushed slightly in embarrassment at the thought. "Can you tell me your name now?"

"Me? I am Death."

There was a period of silence as Death watched Naruto's expression change from one of giddy happiness to shocked and possibly frightened awe. Of course, being the child that he was, Naruto was inclined to believe him.

"Death!?" Naruto squeaked, "D-does that mean I'm d-d-dead?" His voice was embarrassingly small and sad as he gazed up at the being that called himself Death with wide-eyed horror.

Death just sighed through his nose, smiling. "No, Naruto, you aren't dead."

The young boy sighed in relief before his expression became confused once more. "Then... Why are you here? And where is here?" He became scared again and tensed suddenly, curling up. He flinched when Death narrowed his eyes. "Are you here to kill me? Are you here to do what the villagers have always wanted to do? Am I too much of a demon to live anymore? They always said I was a demon; that I deserved to die."

Death didn't reply, instead, he got up, earning another flinch from the Jinchuriki, and hugged the young boy to his chest, much to Naruto's shock.

"No, Naruto," Death murmured as he rubbed the boy's back soothingly, "I'm not here to kill you. Or hurt you. You don't deserve everything that had happened to you. You aren't a demon and you don't deserve death. Those villagers are stupid bas - er, people, who can't see how great you are. They are the ones that don't deserve to live. They are the real demons." Death said this with such conviction and passion that Naruto couldn't help but believe him. He then realized that he was crying. No one else had ever said something like that to him, not even Hokage-jiji. He relaxed into the older man's arms and cried, feeling grateful when the other just continued to hold him, not even complaining about the tears.

Eventually, Naruto calmed down and pulled away, blushing in embarrassment at crying. Ninjas were strong and did not cry. How could he be a ninja if he was so weak? How would he be able to get the acknowledgement he desired from the village he loved like this... But... now that he thought about it... Perhaps he didn't love the village. The villagers were all mean to him and the only two people to have ever shown him affection were Hokage-jinni and Death. He felt warm and safe here with Death, much like how he would imagine being with his father would feel like. He already liked Death more than anyone else he had met, even Hokage-jiji, despite having only met him twice and talked to him for a little while. Death had just given him comfort like he saw mothers and fathers giving when their children tripped or something. Somehow, he felt a connection to Death, an understanding.

"You... You won't kill the villagers, will you?" He then asked, staring up into Death's green eyes.

Death's eye twitched and he forced a smile. "If you don't want me to then I will leave them be, even though they have hurt the one I think of as a son."

Naruto's eyes grew wide. "C-can I stay here? With you?" He asked, suddenly feeling extremely shy.

"Of course. That's what I was hoping you would say."

Naruto broke down again.

* * *

The Hokage was not a happy soul. No, he wasn't a happy soul at all. He was old and, like Fate (not that he knew), he had to deal with a lot of paperwork. He sighed, eyeing the piles of paperwork piled up on his desk wearily. He sighed again. Not only did he have to deal with paperwork, but the past month didn't go so well for him. Exactly three weeks ago was the Kyuubi Festival and, as always, he had his crystal ball out to make sure that Naruto was alright. As soon as he had seen the boy running, he knew what was happening and immediately called his ANBU to go and help the young boy. He had been prepared to set off as well, until something... Strange happened. The crystal ball showed a picture of the mangled body of some poor shinobi before it went blank. And that was when problems started.

When he and the ANBU got to where he had last seen the Jinchuriki, all they had found was an empty alleyway and the horribly mangled corpse of a ninja of Konoha. He grimaced at remembering the corpse. It looked as if it had been skinned and it was already rotting when they got there. Naruto, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. And they hadn't seen him since.

Of course, he, as Hokage, had immediately sent search parties to try and find him as well as used his crystal ball, but every search turned up blank. They had even tried searching around the village.

He massaged his temples, sighing again.

He had failed his successor, the Yondaime, in protecting his child. He had failed to protect Minato's legacy. He frowned, beginning to panic inwardly. What if someone kidnapped him? No, everyone who knew the truth or part of the truth was forbidden by law to speak of it. What if he was dead? No, he didn't find a body, so he had absolutely no proof that Naruto was dead. But, then again, the crystal ball wasn't working... No, the Sandaime shook his head, he wouldn't think such depressing thoughts.

His mind wandered to the next problem. Recently, the animals of the Forest of Death had taken to mauling anyone who got inside. They hunted intruders down and attempted to kill them, usually in groups. It was really odd and two jonin had already been fatally injured. A weird, black, crystal-like dome had also appeared in the middle of the forest. Something strange was going on in there, but, so far, no one had managed to get to the dome yet. The entire forest seemed to be rebelling, attacking and lashing out at intruders. In fact, a giant willow tree had almost ripped someone apart just yesterday. How that was possible was beyond him.

The Sandaime sighed. He was getting too old for this...


	2. Return

On one bright dawn of October the tenth, exactly seven years from the time of Naruto's disappearance, found one Hatake Kakashi at the Memorial Stone like most days. Unlike most days, his eyes were glued to one name and one name only.

_Namikaze Minato_

_Minato-Sensei... I failed you... Again._ Kakashi bowed his head, brow furrowing as he stared at the ground. His fists were clenched at his sides, nails making intentions in his palms. He wasn't crying. No, he was far from crying, but he felt as if he was being ripped up from the inside anyways. He healed and ripped himself up again and again. Each time he felt like he was losing them, he would force himself to remember. _I couldn't protect you... Or your son. I should've been there!_ He gritted his teeth before sighing and slumping.

Dwelling on the past was something that he really shouldn't do. Everyone had told him that he should let go of the past to look towards the future. But Kakashi was unable to. He was trapped in a single moment, in several single moments, individual moments, which haunted him again and again. He coped though. He let himself mourn, he trained in remembrance of them all and he got stronger, never stagnated, in their name. Kakashi did not live for himself, he lived for the people he cared for, which were slowly diminishing, but still there. He lived for all those that had died to keep him alive, to protect this precious village.

But Kakashi could no longer see this village as precious to him, only as something precious to those that came before him and to those that he lived for.

He had known, but now he wished that he hadn't. Had he not known who Naruto was, had he not known of what Naruto was containing, he could remove some of the blame, heal a little, heal a little permanently. He wished he hadn't known so he could keep the part of him that loved every aspect of his villae alive, to look through rose-tinted vision once more. It was a selfish one, but a true one.

They all had to cope.

He didn't like how the villagers had treated Naruto, at all. In fact, he could say that he outright hated some of them. He understood that Naruto was keeping them safe. He wished that he had gotten to know the kid better... And now? The blonde child was gone. Gone. Dead, most likely. And it was all their fault. He hated.

And it was his fault. He had been assigned to watch over Naruto that day. He had stopped to try and suppress the mob, but when he had gotten to the alley where Naruto was, all he had found was a dead ninja and no Naruto.

It was a rather gruesome sight, even for him. The corpse was already rotting when he had gotten there, skin and flesh slashed open in several places on the body, insides turned out. He was just glad that he didn't see Naruto's corpse. If he had... He would've probably died of guilt.

He should've been there. He should've been there to stop whatever had killed the other ninja from killing Naruto, too.

Kakashi heard the bushes rustle behind him, but didn't move a muscle. He knew who it was. After all, they always came on this day to this place ever since the disappearance of Naruto.

Jiraiya of the Sanin.

The white haired ninja moved to stand beside his student's student, looking at the Memorial student as well. After the news of the death of his student's son, Jiraiya had taken time every October tenth to come back to Konoha. It was partially out of guilt and partially out of loyalty towards his student. He and Kakashi were the only ones. They would come here at dawn and leave after the sun fully rose. It was a tradition of theirs that hadn't changed in the past seven years. If their first meeting had been any other day, Kakashi would've probably been in awe of the author of his favorite series. However, Kakashi had never forgiven the Sanin for not being there for Naruto. He knew that the Sanin was Naruto's godfather, the Hokage had told him so.

"Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi greeted quietly. The other only nodded in response, oddly quiet as usual on this day.

The two stood in silence as the sun rose, mourning and remembering. It was a melancholy silence, yet not exactly uncomfortable, almost peaceful yet not. It was a silence that had occurred every year and a silence that was soon filled with noises of the morning. Birds chirped and the wind blew. To the two there, it was a day of remembrance, but no matter what happens, the sun always rises tomorrow, even if you feel as if it shouldn't.

The silence brought them tragic thoughts, but also a sense of forgivness.

As the sun's rays spread and strengthened, the silence was broken by a loud shout.

"Kakashi! Jiraiya-sama!"

The two turned to the intruder of their silence. It was Asuma Saturobi. The jonin landed in front of the two, a slightly confused and panicked look on his face.

"The Hokage requests your presence urgently!"

The two mournful ninja looked at each other before immediately heading for the Hokage tower. They knew it must be really urgent if the Hokage had requested them specifically on such a day. Usually, Sarutobi would just let them stay at the Memorial Stone.

_What could've happened?_

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed on his pipe as he composed himself. He thought that he might have nearly had a heart attack just now. He couldn't believe what he had seen. But... It was real. His crystal ball had never been wrong before and there were even reports on sightings by ninjas that handed in mission reports. At first he had brushed them off as hallucinations, but now he couldn't argue with the fact that what he had seen was real.

He had never given up the hope that Naruto was alive and that was what led to his discovery. Every year on Naruto's birthday, the first thing he did when he got up was to try and search for Naruto using his crystal ball. He always woke at the crack of dawn to do so, too.

This year was no different. He had been fully expecting the ball to show nothing but it's clear blue depths as always, but he had been surprised when images flickered within. So, of course, he had redoubled his efforts, the hope in him growing.

Imagine his surprise when the scene he came upon was not of Naruto, but of the Yondaime. He had stared, stunned, at the scene.

Minato had been just as he remembered. Young, serene and cheerful. He had a bright smile on his face and a sad look in his eyes as he laughed at something in front of him, making encouraging motions. Then, he had beamed with pride at whatever he was watching. And Sarutobi had been so shocked that his mouth had fell open as he stared. Then there was Kushina, in all her fiery glory, walking over to stand by the Yondaime, looking over at whatever the Yondaime was looking at with obvious pride. Then the image had flickered and died and trying to look for Minato or Kushina had no longer worked, just as it should with a dead person or dead people.

Baffled, the third Hokage decided to try and find Naruto once more, deciding that the last scene was just a fragment of his imagination. Therefore, he was very, very surprised to see a scene of Hizashi Hyuuga, the Hyuuga clan head's _dead_ twin brother, and Shisui Uchiha, the _dead_ Uchiha genius that committed suicide, sparring, Byakugan and Sharingan active respectively. Again, his mouth had dropped open as he stared before the image once again died.

He had shaken his head to clear it, unbelieving of what he had just seen. But then he had used the ball again. This time, however, was what shocked him the most. The Shodai Hokage and his brother, the Nidaime Hokage were, in the crystal ball, standing side by side as they barked out silent orders towards an unseen person. It was further proved to Hizuren that this pair was the real deal when Hashirama suddenly used Mokuton and accidentally knocked his brother off his feet. He quickly apologized, seeming shocked that he had hurt his brother, only to be kicked in the shin by said brother and fall over.

The image dispelled just as quickly, but it left behind a thoroughly gaping and shaken Hokage. The crystal ball had never failed before and yet... And yet, all these people were there, but meant to be dead!

It took a while to recover before he told the nearest ninja, which happened to be his son, to get Jiraiya and Kakashi quickly. He then sent messages to each clan head, requesting their presence as soon as possible.

Which brings us back to now.

Just as the Hokage decided to spare himself the headache in thinking about everything that he had seen, the door opened, admitting everyone he had requested for. At once, he leaned forwards, lacing his fingers together and placing his chin on top.

Everyone seemed to be tense and apprehensive, though they didn't show it on their faces. Some betrayed confusion in their eyes and a few of the clan heads were talking quietly as they waited for Sarutobi to start speaking.

The Hokage quickly activated the security seals and coughed to begin. Everyone's attention was immediately on him.

"We have a very... Interesting situation. As many of you know, there is a crystal ball technique that is used to track chakra patterns. Today, I was, once again attempting to find one Uzumaki Naruto with this jutsu. However, as usual, it didn't work. It didn't work properly, at least."

Kakashi frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I'm getting to that part... When I attempted to find Uzumaki Naruto, I was instead directed to a scene of the Hokage. The fourth Hokage. And Uzumaki Kushina."

Kakashi paled and Jiraiya's eyes widened.

"How... Is that possible? The Yondaime is dead... And so is Uzumaki-San," Hiashi asked, narrowing his eyes. Hiruzen held up a hand to stop further interruptions.

"After that, the scene faded, but when I attempted to use it again, I was greeted with the scene of Uchiha Shisui sparring with Hyuuga Hizashi." This time it was Hiashi who reacted by the slight widening of his eyes. "The next scene I came upon though, was one of the Shodai and Nidaime Hokage. In the scene, the Shodai Hokage used his Mokuton, making me believe that the people in these scenes may just be real. This isn't the only thing, though. Recently, there have been sightings of people who should be dead walking among the living. This is just another instance of this."

Mutterings broke out among the gathered.

"How is this possible?"

"We all know that the only Uchiha alive are Itachi and Sasuke. And Uchiha Shisui's eyes were taken by Itachi."

"I-I think I saw someone on the last mission I went on."

"Really? Are you sure it wasn't just your imagination?"

"I thought it was my imagination, too, but after today..."

"Silence!" Everyone quiet ended at the Hokage's command. "I have heard of a Jutsu that revives dead people. This might as well be very dangerous for us; an enemy gathering an attack force. I want everyone to be on their highest alert. Dismissed."

* * *

"Urg... I hate my hair..."

The twelve year-old with platinum blonde hair scowled as he tugged on the slightly spiked strands. His blue eyes glared at his hair which had gotten caught on a branch while he was lunging at his sparring partner; it hurt like a bitch. He had been urged to grow out his hair by his dad so that it reached mid back. The new color, which appeared after the adoption, went quite well with his somewhat aristocratic facial features. He was strikingly handsome, yet had the slight chubbiness that came with being a preteen. It had been a side effect of his new status as the Successor to his dad's place, giving him the same sort of timeless beauty that all immortals possessed.

In his opinion, the length of the hair made him look girly, or, at least, androgynous. Harry called him pretty, but Naruto preferred to think of himself as a younger version of the Yondaime with longer, platinum blonde hair. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to fix it this morning so it was still the bed head it was every morning right after he woke up, full of knots and tangles.

A chuckle floated down from the branches of a tree made of black crystal nearby. Naruto directed his glare towards the immortal perched on the tree. "Your own fault for not taking care of the mess you call hair this morning," the green-eyed man commented.

"This is all your fault and your stupid Blood Adoption thingy! It gave me this hair and it made me look girly and made my intimidation skills horrible! Plus, my hair isn't as bad as that crow's nest you have on your head!" Naruto shot back, sticking out his tongue childishly.

"Hey! I'm offended!" Death pouted, enjoying the banter and taking his chance to tease the other with a smirk. "Don't be mad at the Blood Adoption, Naru-chan! You're very pretty." Naruto's glare intensified. "And it gave you advantages, like magic!" Harry quickly added.

"You know..." A red haired woman cut off Naruto before he could open his mouth to reply, "You kinda look like Minato when he was younger." The blonde child and the blonde man standing next to her both perked up. Kushina grinned evilly. "Cute, girly and totally unreliable!"

"What!?" Father and son both squeaked indignantly. Meanwhile, Uchiha Shisui, Naruto's current sparring partner, and Harry both held back chuckles at the amusing scene.

"Although," Kushina carefully squinted at her son and then at her husband, "Our son does look a lot more masculine than you were at his age..."

"What!?" This time, Minato was alone in the indignant squeaking. Naruto just grinned.

"Must be my influence," Kushina decided with a grin, crossing her arms.

"For shinobi, that might be a good thing," Shisui chipped in, adding in his own opinion, "Your opponents will underestimate you. We are meant to deceive to survive."

"That's the same thing I said when I was trying to cheer Naruto up after he realized he looked cute," Harry commented, swinging his legs and grinning.

"I remember that time... When we were still genin," Kushina's eyes got a glazed look as she dipped into her memories. "Minato was vying for my attention and he and mmph!"

"Oh no, don't talk about that!" Minato exclaimed, clamping a hand over his wife's mouth. "Nothing! Nothing happened! I swear!"

The group peered at the two curiously.

"Oh, I think I heard an embarrassing story of Minato-San from Mikoto-sama once that began the same way... Something about cross dressing," Shisui suddenly perked up, sounding pensive.

Minato gave a resigned groan. "How many people did you tell?" He asked his wife. His wife just removed his hand and grinned, shrugging. "You're all ganging up on me!"

"Hey!" Naruto suddenly cut in, pointing at Harry, "Fix my hair!"

Harry smiled warmly and, with a twitch of his hand, Naruto's hair was silk smooth and free of tangles, though it still resembled Minato's hair with places sticking up. Naruto quickly pulled it free from the branch before both he and Shisui fell into Taijutsu stances again.

"As much as I hate to cut this short, we should really be going back to the main village and meeting with the Hokage," Harry suddenly said, looking up at where the sun was barely visible behind the leaves.

Naruto's face lit up. "We're returning to Konoha?"

"This place is, technically, a part of Konoha, so we are already in Konoha," Harry corrected with a faint smile.

"Yeah, but, we're isolated from the actual village so technically, we're returning to Konoha."

"I still don't understand why you like that village so much..." Harry muttered. "Say goodbye and we'll be off."

Naruto grinned and nodded, bouncing over to his biological parents and giving them each a hug. "Bye, father, mother! I'll see you soon!"

The two hugged back. "Goodbye, son." "Do well in the shinobi ranks! You can kick anyone's ass to hell and back!" "Kushina! Language!" The family of three laughed as the two faded from view.

Naruto turned to Shisui and waved. "See ya, Shisui-nii-san!" Shisui nodded before fading away as well.

"You packed everything?" Harry asked, jumping down from the tree.

Naruto nodded and _Accio_ ed a bag from inside the black crystal structure that was their house with his wand.

Harry nodded approvingly. "You're getting good at silent spell casting, though your control with wandless magic is abysmal as ever most likely." Naruto pouted at him. Harry just smiled and held out an arm, apparating as soon as Naruto took hold.

* * *

The Hokage sighed as he walked out of his office and through the administrative part of the Academy. He really, really needed to stretch his muscles and get away from his paperwork. He wasn't running! No way! He did his work diligently, thank you very much, and he was most certainly _not_ afraid of paperwork! He just felt like getting some fresh air.

He nodded to his secretary as he went, not paying much attention to the people around him. That is, until he heard a familiar sounding name.

"-yes, Naruto would love to become a shinobi so I was also wondering how to sign up for that..."

The Hokage froze in place and then turned towards the source of the voice. There were two... Exotic looking people in kimonos standing there at the counter, apparently applying to become residents of Konoha. The taller one who held a snakehead cane was the one talking and the shorter one...

The Hokage's eyes widened.

It was Naruto.

At first, he didn't realize since this Naruto had platinum blonde hair, but now, looking closely, he could see the resemblance that the youth held to both Minato and Kushina. And if he looked closely enough, he could just about see the three thin whisker-like marks that adorned each cheek of the boy's face. The boy was looking around curiously at everything and then, their eyes met.

The child's smile brightened and he waved.

And that was when Sarutobi was sure that this must be the Naruto they had been looking for.

He decided to go over.

The woman telling the unknown man about how he could apply for Naruto to become a shinobi spotted him and gave a beaming smile, abruptly stopping. This made the unknown man look over curiously as well, his eyes shining like emeralds in the light.

"Good morning, Hokage-sama!"

"Good morning, Tanaka-san," the Hokage greeted the woman, still looking at the duo.

The taller man gave a respectful nod and smile while the child grinned.

"And you must be...?" He directed his question towards the man, smiling warmly.

"Hakuro, Kuroishi Hakuro. This is my son, Kuroishi Naruto, Hokage-sama," the man, Hakuro, introduced with a smile. Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at the man, not feeling any significant chakra in him. He seemed to be a civilian. Naruto on the other hand...

Sarutobi nearly cried with joy when his senses confirmed that, yes, this was the Naruto he had been looking for all along. He curbed that urge though. Instead, he just nodded. "Well, I would like to discuss something's with you, Kuroishi-san... Would you mind coming to my office? I can help you settle in if you want."

"Not at all, Hokage-sama. Come on, Naruto," Hakuro said, beckoning for Naruto to follow as the Hokage led them away.

* * *

After entering the Hokage's office, Harry and Naruto were told to sit down, and so they did. Harry set his cane across his knees, smiling pleasantly. He knew what was going to be said. He wasn't sure why he had conjured a snakehead cane, but for some reason, he felt a bit like Lucius, so he did. He was donned in an elegant dark red kimono-like robe with golden flowery patterns on the hems ( _Go Griffindor, go!_ the childish part of his mind shouted). On the other hand, his charge was wearing an actual kimono. It was turquoise with darker blue and sea-green patterns. Naruto was bouncing excitedly in his seat.

Harry's eyes fell on the mountain of paperwork on the Hokage's desk and he winced in sympathy. He was lucky that he no longer procrastinated or his paperwork would look like that, too.

Then, he felt a wave of energy and recognized it as something to ensure security and secrecy. As soon as he felt it, he tensed in his seat. However, Naruto immediately shouted, "Old man! I'm back!" and Harry had to resist the urge to burst out laughing from the expression on the Hokage's face and the urge to facepalm at Naruto's bluntness.

The Hokage blinked rapidly in shock before smiling warmly at the boy. "So it is you, Naruto. How are you? Where have you been all these years?" He asked.

"Hari-nii-san saved me and took me in! He's really nice and raised me and taught me all sorts of cool stuff!" Naruto told the other excitedly. "I wanna be just like him when I grow up!"

"Hari?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," this time it was Harry that spoke, "I am a foreigner with a foreign name. I changed it so that it would be easier to pronounce."

"Ah... So you are Naruto's guardian?" The Hokage had a challenging glint in his eye.

"Indeed I am. And I am, in my opinion, a better guardian for Naruto than any other person you can find. I saved him from your... _Villagers_ and took him in, after all." Harry said the word 'villagers' with a sneer on his face. "I have legally adopted him, the files should be wherever you put files like those, and I have used a jutsu to Blood Adopt him. This way, if a blood test is taken, it will come up with my name as the parent and any inherit skills I have will be passed on to him. I have also taken precautions regarding his tenant."

The Hokage stiffened at the last part before he sighed. "I see... I suppose I can only ask that you take good care of him." He sighed again. "So, you both wish to become residents of Konoha?"

Harry nodded. "We will become residents of Konoha if you declare Uzumaki Naruto as no longer existing and allow Kuroishi Naruto to exist without ties to his previous identity. Also, I wish to buy the Forest of Death from you."

The Hokage got a slightly bewildered look on his face. "I guess that is acceptable... Though you will be watched for a period of time to make sure you have no ill will towards our village and also interrogated. But why do you want to buy the Forest of Death? It's very dangerous and many ninja have died trying to go inside."

Harry smiled so that his eyes curved in a way not unlike Kakashi's. "Who do you think is the cause of that?"

The Hokage stared. Then he cleared his throat. "Alright then... How do you plan on paying for such a large plot of land, anyways?"

Harry's smile widened further. "I grow crystals."

"..."

* * *

It didn't take long for the meeting to finish. At least it didn't take long after Harry dumped a bunch of rare, priceless stones on the Hokage's desk. The interrogation was quick. All that happened was that a shinobi asked them a whole bunch of questions, had them fill in some paper work, and then a man with a lot of scars, Ibinki or something, said they were good to go. It probably only went so fast because they had the Hokage backing them.

Harry then decided that it would be fun to open a jewelry/weapon shop. He didn't want to exhaust his mortal energy reserves growing precious stones, after all. He needed a source of income and entertainment. Making jewelry would probably be fun... Probably. Although he had to learn how to first. Or, he could just use magic... Oh yeah, he could just use magic.

He bought a relatively large place for his store and the first thing he did was to put runes and seals in the basement so that he and Naruto could travel could travel between the shop and their house freely. After some magic construction that turned the ceiling into black crystal, the walls into marble and the ground into grass, he bought some glass tables, shelves and cabinets and placed a few of his self made weaponry and jewelry on the shelves. He also placed the different kinds of stones and materials out for viewing pleasure. He didn't think that it would have many buyers due to the high prices, which meant he could deal with his own paperwork and overseeing of death whenever his services were required.

 _Perfect_ , Harry thought as he looked around the elegant and high class shop.

* * *

After the shop had been bought, Harry had let Naruto go and explore after giving him some ryo to spend. Of course, Naruto took his chance to find out how the village had changed. Tomorrow, Monday, he would go to the academy to meet his new classmates, so he took his time in exploring.

Walking through the streets, he was glad that his Konoha hadn't changed all that much from before. He ignored the stares he got, but relished in the fact that there were no hostile looks. There were some giggling girls though... A few women even stopped him to comment on how adorable he looked and what not. He was really enjoying himself and even got a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku's; he was really glad that the ramen stand was still where he had remembered it to be.

After he had eaten ramen that afternoon, Naruto hummed a tune as he happily bounced down the streets towards the less occupied areas of Konoha, namely, the Training Areas. That was when he sensed something... Not meant to be so. He paused abruptly and tried to figure out where the bad vibes were coming from. His search led him into a group of rather small trees and to a clearing within the mini forest.

Then he realized what the bad vibes were. Someone was being possessed by vengeful spirits. It was among his inherited abilities to be able to sense un-departed dead, spirits, ghosts and demons.

He could feel it in the air, the oppressive cloud of darkness that was currently possessing an innocent soul. And it wasn't just one spirit, it was hundreds. What were they doing? Why were they doing this? Having so many possess one person was dangerous. It would drive them into insanity. Even one could make someone obsessive...

He slowed down as he neared the clearing, trying to stay hidden from the figure inside. Peeking around the tree, he saw someone throwing kunai at a bunch of targets, training hard. The feeling was coming from that figure. Naruto jumped as the figure suddenly spoke.

"Who's there?"


	3. Friendship

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

Naruto was silent for a moment, unsure of what to do. Usually, when sneaking up on people, he never forgot to use magic to cover his tracks and it was usually done on the battlefield (or pseudo battlefield, since he had only ever sparred, not truly fought), so he would attack immediately if found. However, he never been discovered while in a situation like this.

His thought process was cut off by a thrown kunai and he yelped as he ducked behind his tree, the offending object imbedding itself into the tree behind him. It could've hit him!

Angry, he jumped out from behind the tree. "Teme! Watch where you're throwing those! You nearly hit me!"

The other person - a boy around the same age as him, Naruto realized - merely turned to him and raised an eyebrow, a disinterested look upon his face. His hair was black, sticking up at the back so that it looked like a duck ass. His eyes were black, too, and he was about the same height as Naruto. His facial features, though not as defined as Naruto's, promised that he'd be just as handsome in a few years. He could see the foggy outline of other people - the spirits - surrounding the other boy in a big, translucent, dark mass if he concentrated. There weren't as many spirits as he thought, but they were certainly angry and vengeful enough to make up for their small number.

"Hn. I was aiming past you, not at you, idiot. And if you had gotten hit by that, it means you're barely good enough to be a civilian, never mind a ninja." Naruto growled at the other in anger, eyes darkening to gain a slight purple tinge. "I've never seen you around here before." The boy gave him a once-over. "Who are you?"

"It's impolite to demand a name before introducing yourself," Naruto said, glaring at the boy. The spirits flinched away as a whole, but the boy showed no sign of fear or discomfort at Naruto's anger except for the slight crease of confusion between his brows. Good. That meant that the spirits hadn't gotten _that_ much of a hold on him at all.

"Che... I'm Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke muttered warily, narrowing his eyes Naruto.

Naruto suddenly beamed and he could tell that Sasuke was surprised by the widening eyes and rapid blinking, mirrored by the spirits which moved around in obvious confusion and discomfort. They were probably the reason the boy was showing so much emotion towards Naruto; he had a feeling that Sasuke was the incredibly cold and stoic to strangers kind. "Well, Sasuke, I'm Kuroishi Naruto, but you can just call me Naruto, yeah?"

"... Right..." Sasuke turned away, "Whatever."

Naruto pouted before bouncing over to join Sasuke, curious. The spirits moved, some trying to come closer while others edged away from the adopted son of Death. "What're you doing?"

"Nothing that concerns you. Go away." Sasuke shot a glare at Naruto and edged away from him slightly, confusion showing again. The spirits' indecision was affecting him.

"That's not nice, teme."

"Whoever said I was nice, dobe?"

"Hey, I'm not a dobe, teme!" Naruto retorted angrily, cheeks puffed out.

Sasuke turned back and smirked. "Prove it."

"Huh?"

He rolled his eyes. "Let's have a competition, dobe. If you can beat me, I won't call you that ever again."

"And if you win?" Naruto's eyes narrowed as he asked.

"You," Sasuke pointed to him, "leave me to train in peace."

"Deal." The mass around Sasuke shifted with discomfort and Naruto contained a smirk. Serves them right for possessing someone, especially a child. "So... We're sparring?"

Sasuke shrugged, and Naruto noticed that this interaction was loosening the hold the spirits had on their host. He grinned inwardly. He had found another way to excoriate the ghosts and he was glad because he could only handle one ghost at a time in a direct exorcism. If he weakened their hold to become nonexistent though... He was pretty sure he could banish them as one.

"Sure. Ninjutsu, genjutsu, anything like that allowed. First one to surrender, lose consciousness or be put in a fatal position loses." He walked across the clearing and got into a Taijutsu stance, smirking with confidence. However, when he saw that Naruto was merely standing there, arms crossed, he frowned. Well, if the dobe wasn't prepared and got hurt it wasn't his fault. With that, he charged.

Naruto made a hand sign quickly as soon as Sasuke moved. He needed to cause a distraction so that he wouldn't be interrupted while getting his weapon ready.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

Sasuke's eyes widened as, suddenly, there were a whole group of Narutos charging at him. He quickly took out a kunai and threw it, dispelling one of the clones, and then he proceeded to tear down the army with Taijutsu, weaving and punching and kicking. To his surpise, they were solid clones, which cost him when one of the clones managed to land a punch and kick. He quickly regained his footing though.

The clones were relatively weak, especially physically, but a great nuisance that would take quite some time. They also seemed to have very little teamwork skills, though that's what made them hard to handle, too. If they had cooperated, Sasuke could've guessed where they hit next, but the blows were unpredictable, tended to clash and either exposed the clones to attacks, or hit randomly.

After a while, Sasuke managed to dispel all the clones with minimal injury, but quite some effort. It had tired him slightly. Unfortunately, he could no longer see Naruto. The blonde seemed to have completely vanished, but Sasuke knew better. He kept his eyes and ears open. Then there was a sudden movement to his right and the next thing he knew was Naruto's face barely a foot away from colliding into his chest. Then he noticed the weapon. His eyes widened as he jumped away quickly, the blade whistling as it cut through the air and impaled itself into the ground. Naruto quickly yanked the weapon up, shouldering it and grinning as Sasuke wondered about where it had come from.

"So, Sasuke-teme, what do you think of Kokushibyo? Pretty neat, huh?"

The mentioned weapon was truly a piece of art. It was so stunning, that Sasuke temporarily forgot about the spar to look it over. Kokushibyo was a scythe, a stereotypical Death's scythe that lacked the grips that were found on a farming one. It seemed to be completely carved out of black crystal. The handle or snaith was as long as Naruto was tall, looking a bit like a flower's stem rather than a pole with the occasional jagged spike. The blade, on the other hand, was two and a half feet of wickedly sharp black crystal that was slightly see through. A few curved spikes sat upon the other end of the handle. There were blood red markings on both the blade and the handle and the entire weapon seemed to emit a dark, pulsing aura. It certainly did live up to its name.

Sasuke was then snapped out of his stupor by a sharp pain in his chest. He put his hand to the middle and was surprised to see blood on his hand when he pulled it away. He could've sworn he didn't get hit by that thing, but when he looked down, his clothes had a cut in it, the edges of the cut frayed and black. His wound on the other hand seemed just like a normal cut, except that it throbbed painfully and had already stopped bleeding. He was confused, but quickly turned his attention back to Naruto and the fight. He made a mental note to avoid that weapon.

What Sasuke didn't know, however, was that Kokushibyo was deadly because it had a pulsing layer of death-force, the opposite energy to life-force, coating it. Not too much for this spar, otherwise it would cause irreparable damage to everything around it that even Naruto, being Death's son, couldn't avoid.

Sasuke carefully studied his opponent, both unmoving and waiting for the other to make a move first. He seemed to have underestimated the blonde. Moving quickly, Sasuke formed hand seals, not caring that they were in a forest with easily burnt trees.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

Flames gushed out from his lips, forming a huge fireball before the strands of fire broke and the fireball rushed towards his opponent. Naruto narrowed his eyes and pulled back his arms before slashing straight through the ball of fire with his scythe, death force forcing the flames to extinguish, before apparating into a tree. Sasuke landed where Naruto was a moment ago, confusion evident when he realized that Naruto had, once again, disappeared.

He gave a frustrated growl as he looked around. Where was Naruto now?

_Petrificus Totalus_

Suddenly, his entire body stiffened, arms at his sides, and dropped to the ground, immobilized. His eyes widened. He hadn't even heard, felt or saw the attack coming.

Naruto appeared before him and held a Shuriken to his throat, grinning. "I win!" he chirped happily, mentally congratulating himself on the non-verbal spellwork that had slipped past Sasuke's sight. He then jumped up and mentally intoned the counter curse, making sure he held his wand at an angle that Sasuke couldn't see it from.

The downed boy quickly got up as soon as he was released, scowling. "Yes... You win... Huzzah, to you, dobe."

"Hey!" Naruto crossed his arms and glared at Sasuke, "You promised that if I win, you wouldn't call me that anymore."

Sasuke smirked. "I didn't promise it. I said it, but I never promised. Although... I guess, if you don't want me to call you that, I can stop."

Naruto beamed.

"I'll just call you baka instead, eh?"

Naruto glared as Sasuke's smirk widened.

* * *

"Itadakimasu!"

A pair of coal black eyes widened in horrified fascination as the raven haired boy watched his blonde companion eat. He feared for his sanity... And his wallet.

Naruto, oblivious to the incredulous stares he was getting, devoured bowl after bowl of ramen while somehow managing to not get anything on his face or clothes and upholding a conversation with the happy Teuchi-San, proud owner of the ramen stand they were dinning at.

Sasuke had been persuaded (reads forced) to buy the blonde ramen after their match, which he still couldn't believe he lost. Although the sight in front of him was even more unbelievable, believe it or not, than getting beaten by the girly boy in a kimono. He blinked again, making sure that it was real and not just some genjutsu.

It was real.

"I-itadakimasu... " he muttered uneasily as he began to eat his bowl of ramen, too. Just at a considerably slower pace. He'd have to find a way to ditch the blonde and have him pay for his own ramen somehow... Luckily, if he failed to do so, he had his untouched fortune from his family to fall back on. The thought of using that money made his stomach turn. He really did not want to use money he gained from having all of his loved ones killed...

"Sasuke?" Sasuke blinked, looking up into concerned blue orbs. "You alright? You seem depressed," Naruto said, frowning before suddenly beaming again. "Come on! Turn that frown upside-down! We're eating ramen and it's totally awesome. How could you be frowning while eating this? That's like blasphemy, teme!" The blonde ate another mouthful, eliciting a chuckle from Teuchi.

"You should slow down to avoid chocking, baka."

Naruto looked up in the middle of a mouthful. "I'm fi-" he began before suddenly coughing. Startled, Sasuke hit Naruto on the back a few times, not wanting to stand by and watch someone choking to death. The blonde's coughs died down and he sighed.

"I told you so."

Naruto pouted and just continued eating, but he noticed the small smile that curled at Sasuke's lips and internally cheered. Sasuke would get better in no time.

"Eh? Naru-chan? You're gorging on ramen again?"

The two boys looked up at the sound of another's voice. Sasuke's eyes widened as Naruto gave a high-pitched whine of 'daaaad!' and pouted slightly. The man that had just walked in was the most regal, beautiful person that Sasuke had ever seen. He didn't see much of a similarity between the man and Naruto, but he could certainly understand that they were related. Naruto had light hair and blue eyes, while the man had dark hair and green eyes. They both looked ethereal, unearthly, though the older man more so than Naruto.

"You rarely ever let me eat ramen! Don't complain about me taking this chance to indulge!" Naruto said, pouting.

"I never let you eat it because you always eat too much at once, Naruto," the man said. Naruto stuck his tongue out childishly. The man seemed to suddenly notice Sasuke, who was openly staring at him. The man smiled. "Who's your friend, Naruto?"

"Ah!" Naruto beamed at Sasuke, pausing in his meal to introduce the two to each other excitedly. "Dad, this is Uchiha Sasuke, Sasuke, this is my dad!"

"Hello there, Sasuke-kun," the man said, smiling pleasantly at Sasuke. "It's good to see that you have a new friend already, Naruto. I'm Kuroishi Hakuro, Naruto's dad. It's nice to meet you, Sasuke-kun." The man, Kuroishi, took a seat next to Naruto.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Kuroishi-san," Sasuke replied politely, watching as the man inclined his head and ordered a bowl of miso ramen.

"So, what have you two been up to then?"

"We had a spar, dad, and I won!" Naruto chirped, making Sasuke sigh as he thought back to his defeat. Naruto patted Sasuke on the back. "Don't worry, teme, I've had some of the best teachers in ninjutsu, taijutsu and fuinjutsu. Plus, dad taught me a lot, too. That last attack is part of the bloodline of ours."

Sasuke looked at the other curiously and then looked at Kuroishi. The two seemed much too delicate to be ninja, yet... It made sense since shinobi were meant to deceive. "So you're both shinobi?" He narrowed his eyes slightly at Naruto. "How come I've never seen you before?"

"Well, actually, dad isn't a shinobi. I'm the only one. I'm joining the academy as of tomorrow. We've only recently become citizens of Konoha and I learned all that stuff because we had to be able to protect ourselves while traveling. We didn't really like hiring shinobi even though we had the money to do so," Naruto explained while simultaneously digging in to his ramen. Kuroishi ate his own ramen at a much more subdued pace and didn't seem to have the skill to carry conversation while eating. "After all, it takes away that sense of adventure from exploring on our own!"

"Oh, so, Kuroishi-San is a civilian then?" Sasuke looked up at the older man who smiled back at him.

"Yup. We've decided to settle down here and I have no skills that can put me up to the same level as a ninja, unfortunately. So, instead, I opened up a weapon and jewelry shop."

"You're selling jewelry and weaponry together?" Sasuke frowned slightly at the weird combination.

"Precious stones, actually," Naruto corrected, "We hoard them and have tons of rare and precious materials to make weaponry and jewelry with. Plus, our bloodline allows us to enchant them, for a lack of a better word. Make them unbreakable, forever sharp, chakra draining and stuff like that. My dad made Kokushibyo; he's awesome!" Naruto grinned widely and Kuroishi chuckled, but didn't comment.

"Wow!" Sasuke muttered, looking at the civilian in a new light.

"I know right? Dad is just awesome!"

"So, Sasuke-kun," Kuroishi spoke up, having already finished his bowl of ramen (how did he eat so quickly?). "You're aspiring to be a ninja then?"

"Yeah. The Uchiha clan has always been a ninja clan..." Sasuke gave a sad smile.

"Ah... I'm sure you'll make a great ninja. You'll make your family proud."

"Maybe..." Sasuke muttered, stirring his ramen around in the bowl.

"Ne, Sasuke, you're my friend right?" Naruto suddenly asked after a period of silence, looking up at Sasuke with wide curious eyes.

Sasuke blinked at the blonde and shrugged. "I guess," he replied, watching a wide grin spread across Naruto's face.

"Hey, dad, since Sasuke's my friend, he can stay at our house, right?" The blonde asked, making puppy eyes up at his dad. Kuroishi just smiled and nodded.

"Of course he can."

"Teme, why don't you stay at my house? It's awesome, it really is! Since you're my only friend, you have to show me round tomorrow. It's your job to make sure I don't get lost, Sasuke!" Naruto said excitedly, grinning at Sasuke. Sasuke blinked rapidly, surprised at the offer.

"I don't want to impose..."

"Nonsense. You're welcome at our house," Kuroishi spoke up, "Naruto needs a friend o keep him company anyways. He's been alone for quite some time without any friends the same age. We would really appreciate it if you came over."

"Pleeeease, Sasuke-teme? You're my first friend here!" Naruto whined, making puppy eyes at his newfound friend.

Slightly baffled at the turn of events, Sasuke merely nodded. He didn't understand how the pair could trust him enough to allow him into their house and he wasn't sure why Naruto had thought of him as a friend so quickly. What he did know, was that the thought of being friends with the blonde made his heart lighter. He quirked a smile as Naruto whooped, excited at the thought of having a friend stay over, and completely forgot his ramen in favor of babbling about how awesome the sleepover was going to be.

"Eat your ramen, baka."


	4. The Academy

It was a bright and sunny morning that Sasuke and Naruto awoke to the next day, not that they could tell as the trees of the Forest of Death blocked out most of the sunlight. However, the scarce sunlight was enough to wake Naruto as he was used to it. Stretching, Naruto kicked off the silky covers of the bed and hopped off, already wide awake. He was excited. Today was his first day at the Academy! The next step to becoming the best shinobi ever!

The spirits were dormant while Sasuke slept and Naruto poked the other in the cheek. Sasuke grumbled, but didn't wake. Naruto took this chance to fling a few low-grade exorcism and purification spells at the sleeping boy. He breathed a sigh of relief as the suffocating presence lessened. It didn't go away though and Naruto had yet to master the more powerful excorcism spells and he didn't want to do a ritual on his unknowing friend. He would just have to weaken them slowly.

"Rise and shine, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, turning to face his friend who had come over for a sleepover. Said friend grumbled and threw a cushion at Naruto, which was dodged, and pulled the covers over his head.

Naruto grinned as he remembered Sasuke's reaction to his home yesterday while dressing.

_"Wait a second. Where are we going? I thought we were going back to your house, baka," a confused Sasuke said as he trailed on behind Hari. They were heading towards the Training Grounds and not the residential areas which was probably why Sasuke was baffled._

_Naruto grinned. "You'll see, teme. You'll see," he merely said. Sasuke shifted slightly, seeming uncomfortable._

_After a while, they arrived at their destination, The Forest of Death. Naruto was smiling broadly while Sasuke seemed highly unnerved by the Forest. "I thought we were going back to your house..." He said in a rather small voice._

_Naruto turned to smile at him. "Our house is in there," he pointed at the trees as his father got out a set of keys and unlocked the gate._

_A low growl came out of the dark space between two trees as they walked into the area, Hari locking the iron gate behind them. Sasuke instinctively fell into a crouch, prepared to fight whatever had made the menacing sound. Naruto felt the urge to laugh bubble inside him as Sasuke made a futile attempt to hide the fear he felt._

_"Aren't you scared? Who knows what could be in here! And your dad just locked us in. What the hell? You probably haven't heard the stories about those monsters that even jounin can't face which live in here! We're barely genin and your dad's a civilian!" The raven rambled on as Naruto bit his lip to keep from laughing._

_Suddenly, an enormous black wolf burst out from the foilage, making Sasuke jump back and take out a kunai, eyeing the creature with wide, fearful eyes. Naruto couldn't hold in his laughter anymore and began to giggle._

_"Hey, Padfoot," Hari greeted the large wolf, earning an incredulous stare from Sasuke, and rubbed the spot behind the terrifying wolf's ears. Padfoot barked and thumped his tail on the ground as he melted under Hakuro's ministrations. "Care to give us a ride?" The wolf barked in agreement and lay down so that Hari could climb on._

_"Come on, Sasuke!" Naruto quickly jumped onto Padfoot's back settling behind his dad and trying hard not to laugh in the face of his friend's fear. Sasuke was raised on the stories about the evil monsters and demons that lurked within the Forest of Death after all and Padfoot was a rather intimidating sight..._

_Being around the size of a large elephant or perhaps a small mammoth, the black canine towered over the young raven haired shinobi even while lying down. His eyes were a demonic red that seemed to glow faintly and his teeth were visible, being too long to keep inside his mouth. The shaggy black fur did nothing to hide the curved claws on Padfoot's paws and his tail made loud thumping sounds when it hit the ground, bringing up small clouds of dust._

_Visibly swallowing his fear, Sasuke jumped onto the large canine's back and sat behind Naruto, cautious._

_"Off we go then, Padfoot!" The dog yipped happily and sprang up, almost dislodging Sasuke, before bounding off into the woods at high speeds that could rival most jonin._

_It wasn't long before they arrived at the dome of black crystal that acted as a wall around the blonde shinobi-to-be's house. Instead of stopping, they rode right through it, elicting a startled shout from their guest, before stopping in front of the house._

_"What the hell?" Sasuke muttered as they dismounted, looking up at the large, black building and black crystal trees. Everything was made from what seemed to be crystal. The garden, the building, the gates, some of the trees, but not the grass though. Multi colored flowers carved from crystal adorned the lawns and translucent pale green vines crept up the side of the building. There were a few actual plants mixed in, but most of the plants inside the black crystal dome were inside the house. Naruto smiled sadly. His dad really loved plants, but due to his own presence, there was a lot more death force than life force surrounding his house. If there were too many plants, they'd use up the life force and die, so they had to substitute the garden for one made from crystal. The plants in the house were a housewarming gift from Life. "This is... amazing..."_

And then, after that, Sasuke had pretty much just stared wide-eyed as Naruto gave him a tour. It was understandable, as the whole place was more or less made of crystal and marble as well as plants and grass, but Naruto still couldn't help but think that Sasuke's wide-eyed wonder was hilarious.

Naruto grinned as he bounced off into the bathroom, filling up a bucket of cold water after doing his morning business. Well, if Sasuke wouldn't get up, it would be Naruto's job to wake him.

"Sasuke! Rise and... Shine!" and with that, Naruto tipped the contents of the bucket over Sasuke's head. The poor, drenched boy immediately jumped up with a yell and kicked back the covers. He looked up and glared at Naruto.

"Dobe..." the raven haired shinobi-to-be growled at his newfound friend.

"Constant vigilance!" Naruto chirped before running out with a "You're gonna be late!"

"Crap!"

* * *

Naruto had already finished his breakfast by the time Sasuke joined the two others down in the kitchen. His hair was still wet from the drenching Naruto gave him, but otherwise he was fine, dressed up in a kimono Naruto had lent him. They hadn't bothered to go to Sasuke's house for his clothing because Sasuke said that he didn't want to trouble Harry by making him wait or run all the way to the Uchiha compound just for clothing.

Sasuke glared at Naruto again, but the blonde ignored him.

"Morning, Sasuke-kun," Hari greeted, sipping some coffee while looking over some papers. He passed Sasuke a plate with toast on and a glass of milk. Sasuke quickly drained the milk. "Have some breakfast. We're just having some toast and milk today. Any more and the two of you will be late. You two have five minutes to get to the academy, you know."

"What!?" Naruto squeaked, "We really are gonna be late!" He grabbed Sasuke's arm and tugged him out of the kitchen, nearly making him choke on his toast. "Dad, come on!" He shouted over his shoulder, pulling Sasuke down to the basement. Hari followed at a more subdued pace.

"What are we doing down here, baka?" Sasuke asked, looking over the runes on the ceiling, walls and floor curiously. "Shouldn't we be rushing outside?"

Naruto just shook his head. "Dad!"

"Coming!" Hari replied, walking into the basement and standing next to the two. He gave his cane a wave. " _Alohomora!_ " There was a click and the door they had come through locked. The room glowed slightly and then there was another click. Hari turned and walked out of the door opposite the one they entered. The two boys followed and blinked as they walked into a large room with a bunch of weapons and jewelry on display. The glass walls at the front of the shop showed the Main Street.

"Whao. That was cool. Where are we?"

"My new shop," Hari said with a grin and Sasuke once again went wide eyed, looking around at everything. Naruto, too, was looking around, amazed at the jewelry and pretty weaponry that was on display.

"Wow..." He breathed as he and Sasuke came upon a full set of armor made of what appeared to be diamond.

Hakuro chuckled. "Three minutes left til class starts."

"Crap!" The two younger boys shouted simultaneously before charging out of the shop and down the road towards the academy.

* * *

Umino Iruka was a talented chunin in charge of an academy class. It was a job mst ninja would be horrified at, but not Iruka. Iruka loved children, even if they were immature brats half the time and would grow up to be killers.

He smiled as he entered the classroom. There was still a minute till class started and most the students were here already. He could see Shikamaru snoring away on his desk as usual, Choji right next to him chomping on chips, Hinata sitting by herself, Kiba having a one sided discussion with Shino, a few girls giggling away by themselves and...

Iruka blinked. Where was Sasuke? Usually, he would be brooding alone in a corner of the room, a bunch of fan girls gossiping and giggling beside him. He was usually the first here, too.

Just as the bell ran, the door burst open to reveal Sasuke Uchiha. He was breathing heavily as if he had just ran a mile and his hair was in a disarray. The oddest thing though, was that he was wearing a kimono. He took a deep breath and nodded once to Iruka before sitting down and glaring around the room to make sure no one took a seat next to him. Iruka sighed and shook his head fondly, even as his ears complained at the sudden excited screaming from the girls.

"Alright, everyone, get back to your seats!" He called out and everyone obeyed, looking at him curiously - sans Shikamaru who's still sleeping. "Today, we'll be getting a new student in our class. When he comes, I want you all to make him feel welcome, okay?"

"Hai!" Sasuke chorused with the class, staring intently at the door, frowning and impatiently tapping his foot. Iruka frowned slightly at the odd behavior.

"He only recently moved to Konoha, but the Sandaime seemed overjoyed to have him and his father pick Konoha to settle down in. Don't overwhelm him," Iruka sent a glare towards some of the girls, "and do your best to help him fit in."

A knock sounded at the door and Mizuki, another chunin, opened the door and led a young blonde boy inside. Iruka nodded towards the other teacher and Mizuki left, leaving the curious-looking blonde child.

"Hello there," Iruka greeted with an encouraging smile, "I'm Iruka Umino. Why don't you come over and introduce yourself?"

"Okay!" He chirped, beaming right back. Such a cute child! "I'm Kuroishi Naruto!" he said to the class, "Yoroshiku!"

"Naruto, why don't you take a seat next to..."

"Ah, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto suddenly interrupted, waving at the usually brooding boy.

Sasuke gave a small smile back. "Hey, dobe."

"Sasuke then," Iruka finished, bewildered by the way they were greeting each other, "seeing that you know each other already."

Naruto nodded happily and skipped up to join Sasuke. That was when Iruka noticed that Naruto was wearing a kimono, like Sasuke was.

"Oh, Naruto, why are you wearing a kimono?" He asked, making Naruto halt in his steps.

The boy turned and gave Iruka the most watery pair of puppy eyes that he had ever seen. "I can't? Sasuke's also wearing one!"

"Uh..." Iruka smiled uneasily at the young boy, "well, I guess you can... But it might hinder your performance... And Sasuke is our best student, so..."

"Nah, I'll be fine! I can fight with a kimono on!" Naruto gave a bright grin again, all signs of tears disappearing, and Iruka sweatdropped. "I even beat Sasuke-teme while wearing one!"

Sasuke just put his head in his hands in response as Naruto sat beside him, grinning, and some of the girls gasped in horror and disbelief.

* * *

"Find a partner, everyone! We're going to go through the basic katas again, today, and then you can spar with each other freely!"

At these words, Sasuke immediately shifted closer to Naruto who had a curious look on his face. The blonde seemed utterly uninterested in the lesson and was turning his head around, looking at the area they were in. It was a bit of grass behind Academy where the students often practiced. There were a few targets for Kunai and Shuriken throwing and some wooden... log-things that looked rather brittle and easy to break. Naruto took a wild guess for them to be the... Things they used to build strength in their punches and kicks and whatnot. A butterfly flew by and distracted the blonde, his eyes going towards the pretty colors of its wings. Butterflies were too fragile to live in a place where death was so prevalent. The only reason the grass around his home was still alive was because grass grew so crazily and weeds were rather strong. Hari always payed special attention to the few living plants to make sure they wouldn't die.

"Naruto?" A head of raven locks and a concerned voice brought him back to the present. Sasuke was frowning at him, head tilted curiously. "You okay? You just spaced out."

"Uh... Yeah, I'm fine!" Naruto grinned, eyes flickering to the butterfly for a second. Sasuke looked over at what had caught Naruto's attention, curious. He looked back, still frowning slightly. "So... What's wrong?" Naruto asked watching as the different pairs went through a set of basic attacks and defenses together.

"Oh, I just wanted to ask if you would be my sparring partner or not," Sasuke gave a small smile, frown clearing up.

"Sure!"

"Naruto-kun!" The two young boys looked around to see their teacher, someone whose name slipped Naruto's mind, coming over to them. "I have been told you have received training while you were traveling," their teacher began, "and, while I am sure your teachers were very capable, I need to know if you think you can keep up with the class or not."

"Don't worry!" Naruto gave a big grin, "I'll do awesomely!"

"I'm sure you will... But I need to test your skill anyways. How about I watch you practice for a while? With..."

"Naruto will spar with me, sensei," Sasuke spoke up, a slight frown on his face. Naruto almost cringed as he felt the spirits stir and lash out at nothing, some emotion from their host setting them off. He would have to hurry it up with the planned excorcisms. He didn't show his thoughts though, Naruto just nodded in agreement instead.

The instructor frowned slightly. "Are you sure? Sasuke-kun is... The strongest in the class..."

"I can take him," Naruto said, nodding furiously again, a bright smile across his features. He could see his friend bristle beside him, indignant on his behalf, and could almost hear his thoughts of _'as if anyone I choose to be friends with would be so weak...'_

Wow, it was creepy how well he knew Sasuke... They had only been friends for a day or two. Maybe it was just because the raven haired boy was so predictable.

The instructor still looked skeptical but nodded for them to continue.

They both got into their positions, Sasuke looking a little annoyed, and Naruto copying whatever he had garnered from watching the other students. They ran through the basics, Sasuke attacking and Naruto defending and then switched roles before Naruto got fed up. Their instructor had walked away after making sure that their stances were perfect.

"This is a load of crap!" Naruto hissed suddenly as he put up an arm to block Sasuke's premeditated attack. "This stuff is too easy, it's boring... These academy katas are so not useful..." He saw Sasuke nod slightly in agreement before a faint smirk appeared on the other boy's face.

Naruto was confused for a second until he noticed Sasuke's stance shifting from defensive to aggressive and he had to suddenly duck to avoid a wide blow from Sasuke. Then, the entire spar shifted and Naruto realized that Sasuke was taking it to another level. He recognized the way Sasuke moved; it was similar to Shisui. Probably a style specifically designed for the Uchiha family...

He brought his arms up to block the kick that followed and then lashed out with a fist. It caught Sasuke in the side, but the boy didn't falter. Naruto was impressed, but Sasuke wasn't as experienced as Shisui was and, therefore, his style had a lot more weaknesses that could be exploited.

Sasuke wasn't fast enough and Uchiha's relied on being able to predict the next move of their opponent's. Unfortunately for Sasuke, that was rather hard without the Sharingan to help him.

What was even more unfortunate for the Uchiha was the fact that Naruto enjoyed being unpredictable. He didn't really stick to one style and incorporated many different katas he had learned to make himself unique.

Sasuke was getting arrogant.

Patiently waiting for an opening, Naruto lashed out as soon as he saw one. Sasuke was not used to fighting in a kimono, it seemed, since he overstepped and nearly tripped.

Naruto wasted no time in pulling the other boy down with his full weight. His knee landed a blow to the Uchiha's stomach, winding him as he fell on top of the blonde. Naruto quickly took advantage of the disoriented state Sasuke was in and was able to turn them around, pinning the younger boy to the ground by straddling his torso and keeping his hands on Sasuke's upper arms.

He grinned down at the rapidly blinking raven haired boy. "You shouldn't underestimate people, Sa-su-ke!" He chirped, getting a glare in response. Naruto had purposefully remained on the defensive when Sasuke attacked, acting as if he were barely keeping up and knowing full well that the other boy would buy it. If Sasuke had been paying more attention, he would've probably won - Naruto wasn't really that good at close combat and hand to hand - but this victory was Naruto's.

"Get off me, idiot," Sasuke grunted out, still glaring. Naruto just grinned and stood up, offering a hand to the downed boy who took it even if he didn't need it. It seemed that Sasuke was sulking about the loss - no, _pouting_ about it. He would definitely deny it if Naruto told him so.

Oh well, he was bound to get over it...

* * *

The mass of spirits that were thinned out just this morning had condensed again, so Sasuke was still agonizing over his loss.

He had been quite proud of the progress he had managed to make in just one day with the spirits, but it seemed that they were becoming active again. If he really couldn't succeed, then he always had the option to ask Hari for help, but he was determined to do this by himself. This was _his_ first living friend and he wanted to be the one to help, even if said friend didn't know about what he was trying to do.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto spoke up as they took a break from throwing. He got a grunt in reply. "When's your birthday?" Catching the boy off guard with his question as he hoped he would, Sasuke blinked at him before replying hesitantly.

"July 23. Why?"

Naruto pouted. "Darn. You're older than me..."

"When's yours?"

"January first," Naruto lied. It was now his 'birthday' so that people wouldn't connect him to who he was before.

Sasuke seemed surprised. "New Years?"

"Yup," Naruto said, popping the 'p'.

"Huh, that's cool..."

"Sasuke-kun~!" A voice cut into their conversation and Sasuke scowled with annoyance.

"Fangirls..." He muttered under his breath before his expression became colder, more distant. Naruto blinked at the change before looking back at the two girls that had approached them. One had a head of shockingly pink hair and the other was a blonde like him, if a few shades darker.

"And you must be Naruto-kun!" The pink haired girl asked, looking at him curiously.

"Yup! That's me!" Naruto gave the two a wide grin. "Might I have the pleasure of knowing your names?"

"Well... I'm Sakura Haruno," the pink haired girl said, smiling sweetly at the blonde boy. Naruto found her smile a little fake and disturbing. The girl then glared at the other girl. "And that's Ino-pig!"

The blonde girl glared back. "Shut up, forehead girl!"

Naruto smiled a little more sincerely. That was better. It was more real and much less disturbing. Fan girls were creepy... Shisui had told him enough for him to be wary of all fan girls...

Naruto gave a shudder before focusing once more on the bickering girls.

"...Sasuke-kun would never like you!"

"Hey, calm down!" Naruto cut in, wondering how long he had been in his own world. The two girls paused and looked at him. "I'm pretty sure Sasuke likes girls who are more mature. He wouldn't like it if you were bricking like children, ya know. He'd probably think you were troublesome," Naruto smiled sympathetically when they both looked at him with wide eyes. "Right, Sasuke?"

A grunt was all he got in reply, but the girls took it as an affirmative and immediately blushed, rushing off flustered about losing face in front of their idol.

"Troublesome, huh?" A new voice spoke up as Naruto amusedly watched the two girls. "They are pretty troublesome, aren't they?" Naruto turned his head and saw two people coming up to him. One had brown hair in a ponytail and Naruto remembered seeing him sleeping in class. The other had chubby cheeks and lighter hair and he was munching on some chips.

"Hello," Naruto chirped, "I'm-"

"Kuroishi Naruto, I know. You introduced yourself earlier." Naruto could've sworn he saw the guy sleeping through his introduction... But he grinned anyways and nodded. "I'm Shikamaru and this is Choji." No last names? He wasn't trusted. Smart.

"Well, nice ta meet cha, Shikamaru, Choji!"

"It's nice to meet you, too, Naruto."

"You defeated Sasuke in sparring today, didn't you?" Choji spoke this time in between munches. "That was really awesome. How did you do that?"

Naruto could _feel_ Sasuke beginning to sulk behind him.

Naruto smiled secretively. "I'm just that awesome," he said. "So... Sasuke has a fanclub?"

He heard a quiet groan of distress behind him, but ignored it as Shikamaru smirked slightly. "Yeah. The girl all love cold, mysterious and cool Sasuke-kun~!" Naruto laughed slightly at Shikamaru's high pitched mimicking of Sasuke's fangirls. "They're really troublesome though. Always making so much noise and disturbing my naps." The other added distractedly.

"So, apart from them, are there any other fan clubs?"

"Don't think so." Shikamaru reply, scratching the back of his head absently. "Why the interest?"

"Just curious." Naruto shrugged.

"What are you guys going to do now?" Choji asked, still munching away on his chips.

"Training," Sasuke declared monotonously while Naruto shrugged.

"More training?" Naruto asked incredulously, "Is that all you do? It can't be good for your health. I wanna go look at the weapons dad made. Come on, Sasuke, come with me!" Naruto mustered the biggest pair of puppy eyes he could and Sasuke's defense completely crumbled. He sighed in defeat.

"Fine."

"Yay!" Naruto did an internal victory dance. Those puppy eyes never failed him. He then turned to the other two. "Wanna come?"

Shikamaru and Choji looked at each other. Shikamaru then shrugged. "Why not? We don't have much to do later and I need some new kunai."

Naruto grinned slightly. "I doubt you'll be buying anything..."

Shikamaru and Choji looked at each other in confusion as Naruto skipped off, Sasuke following with a less of a spring in his step.

The walk to the shop hadn't taken long and, soon enough, Naruto had two more sufficiently astounded friends. Oh, and one extra.

"Holy crap!" A voice announced its presence after the four had entered. They turned to the voice.

"Kiba. You followed us here?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

The dog lover focused his attention on the other four boys and gave a sheepish smile. Akamaru barked from his perch among the brown spikes. "Well, I was wandering around cause I had some free time and just happened to see you guys entering this new shop here, so I thought I'd follow ya."

Sasuke looked a little skeptical before he smirked. "That's probably the only explaintion that can hold true, since you lack the skill to follow us unnoticed. Especially with that dog of yours."

"Oi!" "Woof!" Came two indignant barks.

"Kokushibyo!" The shout from further inside the shop distracted them and they turned to see a very odd sight. Naruto was cradling a large, lethal looking and down right terrifying scythe and cooing at it. "Did you miss me? I bet you did! I'm sorry, Kokushibyo, but you must understand that I have school. Yes, of course, I'll use you more in the future. That's a good boy..."

This elicited four dropped jaws from his audience as the cooing went on.

Sasuke was the first to pick his jaw off the ground. "I'm going to browse a bit..." he muttered as he walked towards a shelf and started looking over the expensive and high quality weapons. He was careful not to touch as he had the experience with Kokushibyo to know that these weapons were probably dangerous even when not wielded. Eventually, the others also began browsing, Shikamaru looking over the less expensive weapons that were sold in larger quantities such as kunai, Kiba looking at the flashier weapons and Choji looking at armor.

While Naruto was still cooing at his scythe, Kiba had gotten entranced by a beautiful weapon named Trandafir Fatale. It was a weapon composed of two long blades merged in a way that made an x when looked at down the point and had a glowing red hue. The handle was long, placed in the center of one of the blades, the other blade's edge going down in an arc so that you could hold the handle properly. The blades were longer and larger at one end of the handle than the other end. The weapon was a set, it's twin next to it, apparently meant to be used in pairs. Kiba slowly reached out to touch the blades, but a voice stopped him.

"Careful about my weapons. Trandafir and Fatale are poisonous and can kill at the slightest touch."

Kiba quickly withdrew his hand and looked at the weird weapon, slightly horrified.

"Oh, hey, dad!" Naruto chirped and the others turned to look at the newcomer.

After a moment of staring, Kiba sufficiently summed up their thoughts. "He's a _guy_?" Then he blushed slightly. He hadn't meant to say that out loud... The man just smiled, not seeming the least bit offended.

"So, these are your friends, Naruto?"

"Yup! That's right! Dad, this Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba. You already know Sasuke, of course," the boy chirped cheerfully, motioning his scythe in the direction of whoever he was talking about. "Guys, this is my dad, Kuroishi Hakuro!"

"Hello, Kuroishi-San," they all greeted.

Hari gave them a nod. "Carry on browsing. I don't mind. But, I'm pretty sure none of you are able to afford anything here with mere pocket money, unfortunately. I can enchant your weapons for you though. I'll even do it for free, since you're Naruto's friends."

"Wow, really?" Kiba exclaimed. "Thanks! Wait, what do you mean by enchant?"

"Dad's a seal master, sort of. He can carve runes, which are like seals, onto weapons that make weapons untreatable or forever-sharp. He can even make them return to you are usage! It's all a part of our bloodline," Naruto happily explained.

"That's amazing," Shikamaru commented seriously.

It wasn't long before they were all gathered around Hari's work desk and watching him use what appeared to be a wooden stick to carve odd-looking characters into the blades of their kunai and shuriken.

"This looks really, really cool!" Kiba exclaimed, admiring his shiny, newly unbreakable, forever-sharp, forever-clean and unstealable kunai. He looked towards Trandafir and Fatale again. "Hey, Kuroishi-San? How much are those two?" He pointed at the aforementioned weapons.

"20,000,000 ryo for the set."

Naruto snickered as his new friends spent the rest of the day with their mouths agape in disbelief.


End file.
